Looking Your Best for a Boy You Don't Have
by mickiewazhere
Summary: L/J One-shot. Lily Evens and James Potter share a less than private first kiss, but not in the way you would expect.


Lunch brake had just started, but Lily was not eating. No, apparently, lunch was a time for mindless girly grooming and not eating. Tabitha and Alice had drug Lily into the second floor bathroom to "check their make-up" before going to the Great Hall. Tabitha and Alice had boyfriends. Make-up and looking your best was important when you have a boy. Lily did not have a boyfriend and did not care much about her attractiveness to the male species. Personally, Lily would have rather be eating.

"Try this one, Alice. It's you color. I just know, Frank will just love it," Tabitha squealed handing over a pearly dark pink lipstick to Alice who leaned closer to the mirror to apply it. A gurglly moan sounded from one of the stalls on the other side of bathroom. Alice and Tabitha ignored it, but Lily thought Myrtle had the right idea. This was so pointless.

Alice smacked her lips together and turned to let her friends see. Tabitha squealed with delight, "Oh, Alice! It's perfect!" Lily groaned, "Great. Can we go, now?"

The two brunettes just rolled their eyes at each other, and turned back to the mirror, without saying anything. Lily pushed off from her place leaning against the wall. "Wha' was that?" Lily demanded, looking from one to the other.

"Nothing..." Alice said slowly. Lily saw her glance at Tabitha in the mirror, before she turned slowly around to face her red headed friend directly. "It's just that..." Alice paused, again, and Lily's eyebrows rose to egg her on. Alice looked at the read-head sympathetically and answered slowly, "It's not like you understand anything about being attractive."

Lily stared at her best friend in complete shock, her jaw hanging loose and her eyebrows hidden under her hairline. "Are you calling me ugly?" she demanded, her face turning pink in fury.

"No! No! That's not what I meant! -" but Alice did not get a chance to finish because Tabitha turned and finished for her calmly.

"She was only saying that you never make any sort of attempt in making your self appealing to boys. Actually, I think you try to make yourself unattractive." Lily stood in complete horror. It was true that Lily never wore make-up, usually pulled her hair up, and preferred comfortable clothes to pretty ones, but that did not mean she was trying to be unattractive! "That's not true!" Lily roared. (Myrtle wailed in response.)

Tabitha grinned and placed her hand on her hip as she replied cooly, "Sure, it is. Just look at you and James."

Lily went instantly pale. "James?"

Alice giggled, "Don't play dumb. The boys been in love with you forever and as soon as you start fancying him back, you start to making yourself look bad. Why is that?" Lily just sputtered in a reply.

Tabitha joined in with a chuckle of her own. "She's trying to make him stop fancying her," she answered, her tone completely gossip. "She's got intimacy issues, this one."

The two brunette friends continued speaking about Lily as if she was not even in the room, completely unaware that the red-head was becoming increasingly red around the collar. Lily had never admitted out loud that she had become increasingly attached to the boy and now that her friends were treating it as some sort of a joke. Lily was slightly offended.

Lily had found James entertaining, intelligent, and easy to talk to since they had met in first year, but his low maturity and horrible attitude towards her ex-best friend, Severus Snape, had made him less then appealing. At one point, she would have even gone so far as to say she had hated James Potter, but things had changed since then. James had grown alot in the past year. He had lost most of his cockiness, become more laid back and serious, became more mature, had started to leave Snape alone (even though she no longer spoke to him, she had really appreciated James' attempt), and not to mention the physical growth. Puberty had definitely been good to that boy. So, yes, she did fancy him. The problem was, it had gotten so easy to turn him down that saying yes seemed just out of the question.

Alice and Tabitha had turned back to the mirror, finishing their beautification, and were still talking about her. "-it's so sad. They would perfect together. Lily's just far to conservative to ever show him that she fancies him."

"Show him?!" Tabitha squealed, leaning her hip against the sink and leaning towards Alice, shaking a mascara wand. "Can you imagine Lily making a move on anyone?!"

Alice laughed heartily in reply. "I'd pay money to see that!"

Lily had had enough. She was done. She could not take it anymore. Gritting her teeth in fury and her brows furrowed so tight that she was sure to give herself a headache, she moved over to the sink herself.

Both brunettes looked at their friend in shock, as if they had just realized that she was still in the room. Lily snatched the tube of dark pink off the sink, where Alice had left it and smeared a layor of color over her lips. On Alice, who had light brown hair and a very bright face, the lipstick had looked pink, but on lily, whos hair was much darker and had a very pail face, the color came out purely red. Lily did not give it a second look and turned to her friends with a snarl. "Just watch me!" and she took off.

Lily strode fiercely towards her goal, completely unaware that her friends were fallowing not far behind her. She flew down the stairs and across the Entrance Hall, but froze and the large doors to the Great Hall. Alice and Tabitha managed to catch up with her and they stood at either side of her, looking at her as if she had grown an extra head. "Lily, what on earth are you doing?" She was not listening. Lily gave herself a shake, took a calming breath, set her shoulders, and pushed through the doors forcefully.

James was stirring his food idly around on his plate, completely unaware of the conversation his three best friends were in. His mind was far to consumed with his little, red-headed flower.

What was he doing wrong? She had told him that she hated it when he ruffled his hair, so he stopped doing it. She told him that she hated it when he bragged about his Quidditch abilities, so he stopped. She told him that she hated how he picked on the Slytherins, so he had iattempted/i to stop doing that. He had made every conceivable effort to make Lily like him more, but nothing was working. She had become much more friendly with him, yes, but he did not feel he was any closer to getting his flower.

James let out an audible groan and dropped this head to the table, lost in thought. He did not even look up when the large doors flew back and crashed against the wall. Every other student whipped around to see the what (or more importantly who) had caused the explosion. The noise level in the crowded hall instantly dropped to silence and ever last eye was trained on the Head Girl, who was considering the hall with such an intensity that no one had ever seen in her before. Even the teachers seemed to be interested.

Lily shook her head once more, to clear her brain, and her hair shook with her. With a sigh she turned her attention to hall and quickly scanned the room. Her face was relaxed, but her eyes flicked nervously, searching. It did not take long to find him. He was sitting where he always did, friends all surrounding him. She set her jaw and elevated her chin, and moved purposefully into the hall, leaving her friends in shock by the door.

The clicking of her shoes were the only sound in the silent hall, but she was completely unaware of the following eyes on her. She stopped about halfway down the left side of the Gryffindor table right in front of the groups of boys, dubbed the Marauders. Both Sirius and Remus were turned on the bench, staring at her, while Peter, who was seated beside James on the opposite side of the table, seemed to be slowly slinking down in his seat, cowering from Lily's pointed stare. James still had not removed his face from the table top.

It did not take him long, however, to feel the eyes that were burning holes into his head. Slowly, almost timidly, James lifted his head up, catching sight of Lily staring down at him over the top edge of his glasses. He swallowed nervously, but as he straitened and was able to see through the prescription lenses, he conclude that she did not look angry for once. Actually, she seemed quite pleased for some reason. Her the corners over her mouth were tipped up slightly and her stance was almost casual; her arms crossed lightly over her chest and her weight shifted to one hip. It was her eyes that him (and the rest of the room) confused. They glimmered fiercely with an undefinable intensity.

She took one step forward, Sirius and Remus slid instantly apart, leaving a nice sized space between them, and James felt his right eyebrow slide up in confusion. Lily put one knee onto the bench in the space the two had left, braced herself with her hands on the edge of the table, and leaned about half way across the table. James felt the natural urge to back away, but resisted and ended up leaning towards her, as well. Perhaps she wanted to tell him something and was preparing to whisper because of the creepy silence in the hall.

Lily smirked slightly and tilted her head to the side, backing up just slightly. James subconsciously compensated and leaned forward more. Lily backed up again, and James leaned even farther towards her, half out of his seat. He was leaned farther over the table than she had been in the first place and it made Lily snicker lightly under her breath and she made one last adjustment by flicking her hair over her shoulder.

James was so enthralled that he did not even realized what was happening until Lily was leaned back over the table and her lips were smashed against his. He came completely up, off the bench and his hand landed with a bang on the table to support himself. He managed to upset a bowl of pasta in the process, covering his hand in sauce and noodles, but that was unimportant at the moment.

Lily had her fingers against his neck, holding him to her, but she need not worry to much. James was not going anywhere and had begun to kiss her back with just as much gusto.

Almost the entire hall were frozen in amazement (the youngest students, who were unfamiliar with the Evans/Potter drama, were starting to giggle amongst themselves). Sirius and Remus glanced at each other over Lily's back, looking almost ill, before turning back to the show. Peter was almost entirely under the table.

James did not get to enjoy to much the kiss, however. Lily pushed his shoulders and his shock allowed her to knock him back to his seat. He landed with thud, but took no notice as he refused to tare his eyes away from Lily. His glasses had slid slightly down his nose and he was now looking at her over them, his eyebrows were halfway up his forehead, and his jaw was loose. Lily just grinned down at him silently, until she noticed the smear of dark pink color across his bottom lip.

"Oh," she breathed, before leaning back over the table. James did not get the chance to respond because Lily wrapped her fingers around his tie and hauled him back out of his seat. She placed her other hand against his cheek and swiped her thumb across his bottom lip. He stared her numbly, making Lily laugh and bit her own bottom lip. Satisfied with her job, she shoved him back, yet again. Without pausing, she sent him a wink, turned on her heal, and headed back to the door. She stopped there just long enough to glance at her friends, and grin. "You owe my money." Then she was gone.

"Holy Hell," Sirius breathed, turning back to James, who was still sitting numb. A smile slowly slid it's way onto her face. His eyes lit as he realized what had just happened.

"Yes," he whispered. After a beat, he was on his feet. "YES!!" he cried, punching the air. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Lily did not stop until she was on the third floor. Breathing hard, she leaned back against the wall still chewing her bottom lip. She sighed heavily, trying to push her grin away. "Yes."

((Hello. Hello. This is my first story in quite a while, so I would really appreciate and comments or criticisms. No flames, please, but criticism is okay cause I don't have a beta. I would also like to point out that the first half and the second half seem a little disconnected. It's because I wrote the first part one night and second half about a week and a half later while watching a horror movie, so it became a bit more intricate. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. This has been floating in my head for a LONG time and feels good to get it out. Love you all! 3 --Mickie))


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